mine can but I know others (not just summer borns) who struggle with pencil control and can't. AND it does depend on the name IMO. If a child is called Ben or Amy or Sid then that is going to be easier to write than Sheherazade or Balthasar isn't it.

I think on the whole they hope that children will be able to write their own name when they start school but not all will be able to for a variety of reasons.

When my older one was at preschool they encouraged them to write their name by writing it in yellow felt tip and getting them to trace over the top, when they did a piece of artwork.When they were confident, they encouraged them to copy it, or do it on their own.Most could, using that method, write their name unsupervised a full year before starting school, and I don't know of any (excuding sn) that couldn't before they went to school.They also taught them to recognise their names by all having a name badge that went on their chair at the end of the day and they had to recognise and sit on the chair as the parents came in.

In later years Ofsted told them they couldn't do that because they had to learn by letters rather than the whole word, so fewer children could manage it.

It also depends on the name. Certain letters are harder to write: e, s, are obviously harder than l and o. So you might find Pippa can write her name but Alexander-James still struggles for obvious reasons.

Mine could at 2.5 when it was the shortened version i remember doing it at an open day...but at your child's age still struggled as we never taught the whole name - (ie could write Alex but never learned Alexander) I taught by saying "line up, squiggle, big round, up down" etc as ds was still young but it will be better in reception as they'll be learning phonics and proper ways to write letters!

sharesinNivea I wouldn't worry so much about him writing his name just yet.

You can do many things with him to encourage his fine motor skills - playing with plasticine, painting, finger painting, cutting, sticking, making patterns in shaving foam. Does he draw at all? Make sure he has a thick pencil which is easier to hold. You can get special ergonomic pencils to improve pencil grip.

My dd could read and write her name at 3.5/ 4, and has been very quick to read since starting school (now in P2) My ds 4 on the other hand recognises his initias, only and has no interest at all in reading and writing yet, he starts P1 in August, on registrering him for school HT said they do not expect them to be able to read or write before starting P1. They all learn at different rates, so don't worry

DS2 is just 4 and has been writing his name for about 8-9 months I think. However it is a very easy name to write, to be fair, only 4 easy letters, and until about 2/3 months ago he was still occasionally doing it backwards.

dd learnt to write her name at 3 years 3 months. She has a six letter name. Ds could not write his name until he was five and half. He could write his name using magnetic letters from three years old. (Again he had a six letter name)

It depends on the child, when my August born DS was 4 in reception he didn't even know which hand he wrote with and switched between the two. His name had 4 letters he knew which oneshe needed but his attempts were almost illegible. He had a big vocabulary and spoke in complex sentences DD is in nursery turned 4 this week and has been able to write her name independently for 6 months or so. However she has a speech delay and is hard to understand when she speaks if you don't know her well.It's all swings and roundabouts.

My DS1 couldn't at all. I remember all the children had drawn a picture of themselves and written their names underneath. His was one of the few illegible ones in the class. He could write it very neatly by the end of the year.

My August born ds2 can, 5 letter name, he can also write simple words using the phonics technique like is, at, pen, spoon, moon etc he can read these words as well in a story.. It took my ds1 a lot longer but he had multiple medical issues so i put it down to that. My July born dnephew can't write his easy 4 letter name though so depends entirely on the child.. I wouldn't worry about it

One winter born ds could write his name before he started school. One summer born ds who could not - he just didn't have the fine motor skills, but otoh his numeracy was superb before he started school.

Different children will develop different skills at different rates. I really wouldn't worry about it, 4 years old is really just tiny and in Scandinavia children won't have started formal schooling at this age yet.